Queensland Education staff embroiled in more than 100 cases of fraud

A Right to Information investigation reveals 116 cases of fraud and theft by Department of Education staff in Queensland in 2018 with the Opposition describing the volume of cases as "extraordinary".

Key points:

About 170 incidents were reported and the department substantiated 116 of them

Minister Grace Grace said the overwhelming majority of employees were honest and trustworthy

The Opposition's Jarrod Bleijie said the figures were alarming and "deeply concerning"

Queensland Education Minister Grace Grace has played down concerns about the number of incidents dealt with by her department over the past year.

The figures showed the department substantiated 115 cases of fraud and at least one case of theft in 2018.

A department spokeswoman said the instances of fraud related to 84 separate matters, including inappropriate use of public resources and misuse of corporate cards.

Overall, about 170 incidents were reported to the department.

In March, the Crime and Corruption Commission charged a 46-year-old Education Department staffer with two counts of fraud totalling $110,000, but details of the allegations have not yet been made public.

The department would not reveal if the case related to any of the incidents reported in 2018.

'Small number of employees': Minister

Ms Grace said the figures only related to a "small number of employees".

"There were around 90,000 people employed in the Department of Education during 2018," she said.

"The overwhelming majority of these employees were honest and trustworthy in their use of departmental resources.

"However, there was a very small number of employees who were found to be engaging in dishonest behaviour.

"I am confident that the department acted swiftly and effectively to respond to allegations of dishonest behaviour and, where an allegation was substantiated, took the appropriate action."

'There's a huge issue': LNP

Opposition education spokesman Jarrod Bleijie said the figures were alarming.

"These are not just allegations, these are substantiated matters in one year — so there's a huge issue which could mean this might be more systemic rather than just isolated incidents."

Mr Bleijie said the department should reveal the nature of the cases and report it publicly.

"The best disinfectant on these things is to let the sunlight in — the public should know about it, the Minister should be open and honest about it, what went wrong and how often it is happening," he said.

A department spokeswoman said education authorities had a "suite of tools and resources" to stamp out corruption and that cases were referred to police when necessary.

"The department has a fraud and corruption control framework, which consists of a suite of tools and resources including policy statements, supporting procedures, and preventative training modules," the spokeswoman said.

"In addition, the department has appropriate internal governance bodies including the audit and risk management committee and the fraud and corruption control committee, which sets the overall agenda for mitigating the risk of fraud and corruption within the department."